Remembering

Today is exactly 4 years ago that one of my sisters died unexpectedly (I wrote about it here). I "found" these images in one of the pages of my gelliplate-journal, and it immediately reminded me of her. And then I found the perfect words by James Frey to go with it. Hence, this journalpage was born ...

I also "had to" make a new mapface to deal with the horror in Manchester, and in the world in general.

So much hate, so much sadness.... And to top it all off: Trump was here in Belgium for 2 days :-( It kinda gave me a yucky feeling. I was appalled by his behavior at the Nato. But proud that 10000 people came to Brussels to protest his arrival :-)

Anyway, today was a beautiful sunny warm day, and I sat outside in the sun to work on my  mosaic. It's a very long time ago that I did something with mosaics, and I'd forgotten how much I like it. This is how far I've come today:

I will be linking this to Paint Party Friday tomorrow. Click on the link to visit artists around the world!

And, because we need it: a few laughs :-)

Hahaha, I needed that!

And here are the ones to think about ....

Thanks so much for your visit! I hope you are having the most wonderful day, and that your weekend will be full of joy. Stay safe ♥ ♥ ♥

Fast one

Uh-oh, it's late again and I spent too much time on the internet instead of writing my blogpost. So this'll be a quick one ...

After finishing a painting, especially one hat I've been working on quite a long time, I always have a bit of trouble getting into other things again, like working in my journals or doing some other productive things. So it took me a while to get something finished, and I'm not really happy with it, but I don't need to be, since it's in my journal and I can still rework it at a later time.

It's a long time ago that I did something in my journal, apart from the mapfaces, and I really need to get used to it again. I have to teach myself to play again. Which didn't work out too good with this journalpage, but I'm happy that at least I started again.

I also did another mapspread, that was a bit easier :-)

And that's it for this week! Except for my funnies of course :-D
Here goes ....

And the ones to think about ...

I'm linking again to Paint Party Friday, the weekly bloghop with art from all over the world. Click on the link to have a look or to join us! Everyone is welcome. It's a fun group!

Thanks so much for your visit and your kind words. I enjoy each and every one of your comments.

Take care of yourself, have a happy day, and make the most of your weekend! I'll be back next week ♥ ♥ ♥

Feeling blue

I finished my painting! Yes! The last layers were a real struggle, but I'm finally happy with it :-)

I'm in love with the colours in this painting. I used really strong contrasting colours and I love how they look together. Just seeing the colours makes me happy.

I call the painting "Feeling blue". Because all the time I was working on it I was feeling kinda blue. The perfect word to describe it is in fact "Weltschmerz". It's a German word and means something like a feeling of deep sadness and melancholia because of the state of the world. All brought on by everything that's happening worldwide, the uncertainty of the future, the destruction of our planet, the cruelty against the most defenseless creatures, the madness and hate of people in power, the stupidity and ignorance of too many people. Need I go on?

Maybe that's why I needed these colours. Maybe struggling to finish this painting helped, or maybe it's  because there are signs that people are starting to wake up, to realize that hatred and extremism isn't the answer to all that we are dealing with in this world, but I'm feeling better. I'm feeling a little bit more hopeful for the future. Thanks to Austria, the Netherlands and France. Three countries in Europe where people didn't let themselves be fooled by the cries and hatred of the far right populists, and the attempts of the Russians to interfere. Well done!

So, if you're up to it, I'll lead you through the different stages of this painting. Be warned: there are a lot of pictures! If you just want to see the finished painting, scroll down to the end of this post :-)

Here goes ....

I started out with warm colours, put on the canvas with a roller

added cooler colours until there was no more white :-)

adding collage

adding stamps and stencils and spraying with my inks

 drips and sprays

adding some white

 and black for contrast

 some more dripping and putting on colours

and then I started looking for figures, and found three!

 decided the faces were too big so I made them smaller

 working on the figures, finding two more birds

 first time stuck. Couldn't find any more figures, had no idea how to proceed

decided to add some hills and trees, but it looked too peaceful to me and I didn't feel peaceful ....

  so I got rid of the hills. What now ... ?

 I liked the flowing of their hair, so I decided to go with long flowing lines all the way to the top

added some strange-looking flowers 

 I liked the blue, but it was a bit too dark for my liking

decided I needed to change the colours a bit, because everything started looking the same

I liked how the lighter blue looked when painted over the white background, so I added white in all the places I wanted to use this bright blue

 hmmm, no, not happy ...

 lightening it up again, and finding that the space in between the blues on the top looks a lot like a bird ... That's a happy find :-)

something's missing but I don't know what. Somehow the bright blue feels too overwhelming. This is where I was last week.

I try to add some patterns, but I don't like it. Then I add more darker blue. Feeling better about it already. Then I tone the patterns down, add some more details and tadaa! Finished!

"Feeling blue"- mixed media on box-canvas - 1m x 1m (39,4"x 39,4")

Congrats if you've made it this far :-)  I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday, as usual, and I'll finish (as if this post isn't long enough yet) with a few funnies. Here they are!

The more serious ones...

And to end this achingly beautiful picture with a text from Tyler Knott Gregson. I love his poetry, and the piece he wrote for this photo grabbed me by the throat ...

I found the rest of you there, the bit you left behind, and I want you to know how beautiful you were. Even on the street, the crowded noisy street where thousands of feet walked by you without stopping to appreciate, you carried grace. I know you carry it still and I will find you, again, and celebrate your new form while you still have it. Know that I see you, know that I love you, know that in all that noise and hustle, I stopped to say goodbye.

Tyler Knott Gregson

Thanks for your visit! Hope your coming days will be filled with warmth and hope ♥ ♥ ♥